Saturday, November 30, 2013

Ah, Djibouti. It’s long been the “butt” of many jokes for
English speakers.These jokes were
usually placed at the“bottom” of
my joke list, though. However, I’m going to put this “behind” me, get it out of
my system, and move on; I will do my best to look forward and not to the “rear.”

Djibouti is one of four countries that make up the Horn of
Africa, along with Somalia, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. The country itself is fairly
small, slightly smaller than the US state of Massachusetts.Djibouti lies on the Gulf of Aden and
the southern entrance to the Red Sea. There are eight mountain ranges, the
highest being Mousa Ali (which includes a volcano), and the entire country is
covered by desert.The climate is
hot in the winter and hotter in the summer. The name “Djibouti” is named after
the capital city of the same name. Although linguists aren’t exactly sure, but
there is reason to believe Djibouti may be related to the Afar word gabouti, which is a doormat made of palm
fibers, or possibly stemmed from “Land of Tehuti,” the Egyptian god of the
moon.

Some historians believe Djibouti (and surrounding areas) is
the place the ancient Egyptians called Punt (or Puntland), who was a major
trading partner with Egypt at that time. (I wonder if people from Punt were
called Punters. – Sorry, a little football joke.) This area was mostly
inhabited with the Somali and Afar peoples.The Ifat Sultinate is one of the major ancient kingdoms to
reign in this region and of course there were several others afterwards.In the mid-to-late 1800s, the French
came in and set up their French administration in the capital city, later
taking over and renaming the country French Somaliland (rather unoriginal,
considering there was an Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland as well.)
Several decades later in 1967, it was renamed again to French Territory of the
Afars and Issas.(Slightly wordy,
it was at least more reflective of the original peoples). The people held a
couple of referendums regarding their independence, but finally in 1977,
Djibouti became its own country.Although
there was some political conflict that led to fighting starting in the early
part of the 1990s, it had generally been resolved in the 2000s in an agreement
of power.Djibouti does hold the
only US military base in sub-Saharan Africa, which is a key base in the
assistance in the global watch on terrorism.

The capital city of Djibouti City has about 600,000 people –
roughly the size of Portland, Oregon.This seaport is known for its sand beaches, which are major tourist
spots.The city is also known its
many markets, many of which are open-air markets selling everything from
fabrics, woven goods, and jewelry to fresh meats and vegetables and grains.
Much of the culture and architecture is a mix of Somali, Arab, and French
styles and traditions.Soccer is
pretty popular, and they have a stadium that holds many international sporting
events. Djibouti City is also a financial hub for many up-and-coming businesses
in all fields.

By far, Djibouti’s largest trade partners are neighboring
Ethiopia and Somalia. Djibouti also refines about four million tons of salt
from the Lake Assal region annually – which also happens to be the lowest point
in the entire continent of Africa.With the help of Chinese investment, they are looking to expand the salt
industry.They do have problems
with high unemployment; some estimates put it around 50%.Because of persistent problems with
drought causing an unfavorable environment for growing, most of their food is
imported from other countries.This
also causes the country to have a lot of long-term debt they have to deal with.

While Arabic and French are official languages, most people
also speak Somali or Afar as a first language.Different dialects of Arabic are also found spoken in
Djibouti, mostly in immigrant populations, as well as other minority languages.

The vast majority of Djiboutians practice Islam – about 94%
of the population. In fact, the Constitution of Djibouti specifically lists
Islam as the state religion, with Sunni Muslims making up the largest group and
non-denominational Muslims being the second.The remaining 6% of the population are Christian – there is
a small Catholic population overseen by the Diocese of Djibouti.

I read that one of the common “pastimes” in Djibouti is qat
chewing.Qat (also spelled khat)
is a medicinal plant, when chewed gives narcotic effects.In fact, it’s banned in a lot of
European countries (weirdly enough, not the UK).It’s also banned in the US, but from what I could gather, it
will be seized but not for the reasons you might think: it’s not seized as an
illegal substance, but because “it’s labeling fails to bear adequate directions
for use” according to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Sounds weird… So,
while I may not be getting so local as to chew some qat, but I am looking
forward to eating some Djiboutian food and learning more about a country that
up until now has long just been relegated to geographical jokes.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Well, my son finally turned five years old this
week, and I turned in his application for kindergarten and the magnet school
program for next year.Hopefully,
he’ll be accepted to the same school that his sister goes to, a
Spanish-immersion language school where their math and science classes are
taught in Spanish and the rest of the classes are taught in English.I really love it. I wish I had those
opportunities when I was in school.

And it was also a busy week, because the rugbrød
bread is now at the top of my list of “bread that takes the longest to
make.”I had to start the
sourdough starter last week because it was supposed to sit for seven days (ok,
mine sat for six).I’ve never made
a sourdough bread before: this one called for buttermilk, water, rye flour,
whole wheat flour, and some salt to be mixed together and then sprinkled with
course salt before its covered and put in a cool place (but not in the
refrigerator) and forgot about.Then
today, I had to get up and start this much earlier than I normally do.I mixed a bottle of Carlsberg beer,
some honey, salt, water, yeast, rye flour, and the sour dough mix
together.Then I stirred in some
cracked wheat (because I didn’t have cracked rye), some water, and some crushed
sunflower seeds into it.In
Denmark, they have special rugbrød molds, but I’m just using a regular loaf
pan.I didn’t take out any to
preserve as a starter, but I could have if I wanted to.Since I didn’t do that, I had to use
three loaf pans.The recipe says
to let this sit for six hours, but I’m hoping science can do its thing in five
hours.After that, it calls to
bake it at 350º F for two hours, spraying it with water every half hour or so
(of which I had to get kind of inventive since my husband took my spray bottle
to the garage where it’s lost and presumed dead.I improvised with a Hello Kitty soy sauce dispenser.). Technically, to do this the right way,
the bread is supposed to cool on its own for a couple of hours and then wrapped
in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for a day before slicing.
Obviously, I should’ve made this yesterday, and since I didn’t, I’m going to
try to accelerate all of this cooling business.Maybe I should give it the cold shoulder? (I did manage to put it in the refrigerator for a bit, and I think it was fine to cut.)

Hearty and perfect for cold weather -- it was 25 degrees colder in Indianapolis than in Copenhagen.

The rugbrød is the basis of an open-faced sandwich
called smørrebrød.There are
probably hundreds of types of smørrebrød from pickled herring to vegetarian
styles.The one I chose was called
frikadeller.It’s basically a
meatball made from pork and veal, but I couldn’t find any veal, so I went with
just the ground pork.(Of course,
I am shopping in the days before Thanksgiving, so some of the shelves are a
little bare.)The pork is mixed
with a little onion, egg, some soda water, salt, flour, a little allspice, and
pepper.Unlike the baked meatballs
that I made from Belarus, these meatballs are pan fried in butter and flattened
slightly to resemble small patties. I think there was a little too much soda
water because the first batch kept falling apart.I added a little more flour, and really, even at that, they
still turned out more like patties rather than slightly flattened meatballs.
But regardless, the flavor was excellent.

Yes, I ditched the veal, but these were really good.

And now it comes time to assemble the smørrebrød.It starts out by spreading some Dijon
mustard on a slice of the freshly made rugbrød (although I think I would prefer
yellow mustard), then topping it with a couple of the frikadeller meatballs and
some kind of garnish on top of the meatballs. I used a recipe called syltede
agurker, which is Danish Pickled Cucumbers to put on top of it.This recipe is 98.1% like a similar
recipe my mother would often make in the summer.It’s thin-sliced cucumbers, cider vinegar, water, sugar,
salt, and pepper stirred together and refrigerated for a couple of hours.Then it’s drained and sprinkled with
dill weed.I bought fresh dill for
this because it was 99¢ for a bunch, but it’s a HUGE bunch, and
I’ll never use it all.Maybe I can
find someone to pawn off some dill on. And maybe a loaf of rugbrød.

Tastes like childhood, and the fresh dill just made my childhood even better.

The bread
was extremely hearty. And even though each ingredient is delicious, yet
completely different from the others, when it was assembled, it all came
together.The reason I would’ve
chosen yellow mustard over Dijon is that between the Dijon mustard and the
vinegar cucumbers, it was a little too much bite.But that was my only measly complaint.Otherwise, it was the most wonderful
thing I’ve eaten today.And it was
really filling.One sandwich was
plenty enough. I think this will make the best lunch tomorrow, and probably for
the next couple of the days.Of
course, I chased this all down with a Carlsberg beer (but when I was at the
liquor store, I found a dark rye ale called Rugbrød – it tasted something like Guinness -- I only bought it for the name).

I suck at pouring beer into a glass since it was all foam. So, I drank it straight from the bottle.

And at least this is a short workweek for Thanksgiving. It’s a common time to
reflect on what you’re thankful for, and I suppose I’ve been thinking about it
a little myself.I’m thankful for
so many things including my family and this blog, and my ability to think and
read and write – it’s more than a lot of people have.

Mmmm. There are no words but mmm mmm. (Ok, that's also the sound I make with food in my mouth.)

Saturday, November 23, 2013

The earliest known music in Denmark has been traced
to the Bronze Age with the making of lurs.A lur is a long tube-like instrument made from bronze,
shaped similar to a sousaphone but much skinnier, and played by blowing into it
like a horn.It’s actually thought
to be one of the earliest forms of many of the modern-day brass instruments. Music
has been a very important part of Danish society, although most of the early
music was centered after the Reformation, and later, Dieterich Buxtehude was
one of the prominent organists and composers during the Baroque era.Opera was later introduced from Italy
and Germany during the early 1700s.Friedrich Kuhlau was a composer whose music was used in one of the
Danish national anthems. As a pianist, Kuhlau also brought Beethoven’s music to
the people of Denmark.

Carl Nielsen is often contributed as the most
famous Danish composers of all time. I actually am embarrassed to say that even
as someone who holds a degree in music, I was unaware of his name. I did listen
to portions of his “Symphony No. 1” and “Symphony No. 4,” both of which I
enjoyed.

In contrast to this, folk music and folk dancing
was something that was more on the “people’s” level.It was something that everyone could join in and was often
the centerpiece of community events.Many of these dances took place in a farmhouse or in some other public
building perhaps, and most of these dances were styled as chain dances or
rotational dance so that it could maximize the number of dancers in crowded
spaces.And actually, during the
17th and 18th centuries, only officially appointed town
musicians were allowed to play the music, so it was probably best to stay away
from crazy ideas of unauthorized fiddle playing.Denmark imported a couple of dances from Poland and other
countries – one was the pols (a variant of the polka, a pair dance), and
another was the minuet. And of course, the Danes came up with their own
versions of other country’s dances, such as the waltz and square dances. People
generally dressed in their Sunday best when it came time to coming to these
dances, and nowadays there are many folk dancing societies around Copenhagen
and other cities in Denmark, giving performances in traditional dress. Ballet
and other forms of classical dance are also quite popular in Denmark as
well.

Starting in the 1920s, jazz became quite popular –
and still is.Even during the
German occupation during WWII, jazz music was generally discourage, but some
musicians kept performing anyway while others escaped to nearby Sweden to
continue their music.After the
war, New Orleans/Delta style jazz and bebop from the US began infiltrating
Danish jazz.Jazz venues became
destinations, such as Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen, and American jazz musicians
began flocking to Copenhagen to perform.

Danish rock emerged in the 1960s and 1970s and drew
much of its influence from the highly popular styles of American and British
rock.I have found several bands that I liked, mostly in the indie
rock and folk rock genre, but also a couple hip-hop and R&B artists.The first band that I found that I
ABSOLUTELY love is The Raveonettes.I went to the library and checked out the albums Lust Lust Lust (2008) and Observator
(2012).I actually thought Observator was a better album, but it
was extremely short – only 9 songs.

And of course, the drummer for Metallica is Lars
Ulrich, born and raised in Denmark.In fact, he was the first Dane to be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame.I added their Black Album
to my playlist – it reminds me of my high school years.

As a pianist myself, I really enjoyed listening to
Agnes Obel’s album Philharmonics.It’s acoustic and simplistic and at
times resembles Celtic folk motifs. I may end up buying this album. It’s nice
to listen to while I’m working.

One pop singer I discovered is Fallulah whose album
The Black Cat Neighborhood is really
catchy, and my daughter is absolutely in love with it. Probably because it has
the word “cat” in it and she’s an 8-year-old girl. I tried to find this: my
library doesn’t have it, and iTunes doesn’t have it, but I did find some used
copies on Amazon for about $13.I
may also have to buy this.

I did find an artist who calls himself Burhan G.
It’s kind of R&B, I think. More or less a mainstream American sound, the
album does have a few catchy tracks. The same goes for another group call Nik
& Jay.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

The early years in Denmark weren’t merely just
exploring the open seas discovering new islands.There were also artists. One of the largest known pieces of
silver work is the Gundestrup cauldron found in a peat bog in the late 1800s.
The interesting thing is that it doesn’t exactly seem typical of the styles from
that area.Other Norse art is found
throughout what is now Denmark.The rune writing and images carved on the large stones at Jelling are
perhaps some of the best-known remnants of this era.The earliest forms for paintings survive in the form of
church frescos or murals, mostly dating back to Medieval and Renaissance times.
It’s estimated that around 600 churches have murals that survive today – the
largest concentration than any other country.

Denmark later looked to German and Swedish painters
as well as French and Italian sculptors to learn their arts.Some of the more famous painters of
this period include Nikolaj Abraham Abildgaard, Christian August Lorentzen, and
Jens Juel.And likewise, Bertel
Thorvaldsen is often considered one of the most famous sculptors. The Royal Danish
Porcelain factor also got started around this time as well, and the Kosta
Glasbruk glass company, an offshoot company, was also founded at the same time.
Around the 19th century, Danish painters finally started making
their own style , a “national” style, thus it was deemed as the Golden Age in
Danish Painting.Many painters
emerged with this new style, with a more realistic style, utilizing the
contrasts in shading. Portraits, landscapes, and pictures of people in everyday
life were common subjects.

C.A. Lorentzen

As we stepped into the 20th century,
Danish art aligned itself with other European styles and influences.Many painters and other artists have
made their work known all over the world, including many sculptors and
large-scale artists. One of the most famous Danish architects is Jørn Utzon who
designed the famous Sydney Opera House, which is included as a World Heritage
Site.Queen Margrethe II had a
series of tapestries created depicting the history of Denmark from antiquity to
present-day. The tapestries took a total of nine years to complete and are now
located on display in the Great Hall of Christiansborg Palace.

And as mentioned above, the earliest forms of
writing came in the form of runic writings etched in the sides of rocks, like
the Jelling Stones. Once Christianization took place, runes were eventually
replaced with Latin.Most of the
subjects written about at this time were mainly historical accounts, myths
& legends, and ballads.The 16th
century bore the first Danish playwrights, and of course poetry is still alive
and well. 18th century writing has a lot of its influences from
abroad: poetry and drama were mainly stemmed from French and English standards,
while some poets took on the styles of German poets.

Denmark’s Golden Age (which lasted through the
first half of the 1800s) mostly aligned itself with the corresponding Romantic
period of literature.Nikolaj
Grundtvig is one author who is often considered one of the headliners of instilling
a sense of nationalism.And
probably the most famous Danish writer ever is Hans Christian Andersen, who
wrote many children’s stories and fairy tales.Among his more well-known stories include “The Ugly Duckling,”
“The Little Mermaid,” and “Thumbelina.”These stories are part of the canon of children’s literature all over
the world. My husband told me of a movie about Hans Christian Andersen starring Danny Kaye. Søren Kierkegaard was a
prominent philosopher and theologian.The major focuses of his work are centered around making concrete human
reality a priority over abstract thinking, as well as writing about the value
of making personal choices and commitments.

20th century and contemporary literature
embodies a diversity of styles. Karen Blixsen (who wrote under the pen name
Isak Dinesen) is most famous for her memoir novel Out of Africa. It was also made into a movie in 1985 of the same
name, starring Robert Redford and Meryl Streep.Most Danish authors do write in Danish; however, there are
also a sizable number of books written in other languages such as English.Mystery and crime thriller novels seem
to be a popular genre for Danish writers today.

Monday, November 18, 2013

There are many holidays in Denmark, some with days
off and others that are not officially observed with a day off.I’m listing in detail the ones where
you do get a day off. I’ll just list in brief the others the ones where you
still have to show up to work.

New Year’s Day (January 1):According to the law, most shops and
businesses close at 3pm on New Year’s Eve.A lot of people start the evening off with an elaborate
homemade meal, followed by a lot of alcohol. (Sounds like my kind of
night.)Traditionally the Queen
gives a televised speech at 6pm on New Year’s Eve night, and the stroke of
midnight is welcomed with champagne and kransekage (a type of almond ring cake),
and of course, fireworks, and then probably more alcohol.

Maundy Thursday (varies, 3 days before Easter): According
to the Bible, Maundy Thursday is the day during Holy Week in which traditions
say this is the night in which Jesus offers Holy Communion to the Disciples during
the Last Supper.Some churches
hold evening services followed by a meal together because of this. And the
Danish word for this day literally translates out to “clean Thursday,” possibly
stemmed from Jesus washing the feet of the disciples before the meal.

Good Friday (varies, 2 days before Easter):On this day, candles are not lit inside
the churches due to the solemn nature of the day, commemorating Jesus’
crucifixion and death. A special service is held in the evening, although some
hold their services at 3pm.There
is usually a reading of the Passion and choral singing.

Easter Sunday (varies):This is the day Christians believe that Jesus rose from the
dead.Many homes have been
decorated in green and yellow, and you’ll see Easter eggs everywhere.Another Easter tradition that kids do
is a series of teaser letters starting a few weeks before Easter. These are
anonymously written with a verse as to the identity of the author, signed by
only a series of dots, each for the number of letters in your name. After three
letters, the recipient has to guess who the author is, and if you guess right,
you get a chocolate Easter egg. Church services are attended in the morning
followed by an elaborate meal for lunch.This usually consists of chicken, lamb, fish, vegetable dishes, cheeses,
and a lot of beer.

Easter Monday (varies):This day is more or less a continuation of Easter. There are
also special services in which readings from the Bible are a common way of
retelling the stories of what happen after Jesus was resurrected.

General Prayer Day (varies, 4th Friday after
Easter): Also known as Great Prayer Day.Basically, they took a lot of minor Christian feast days and other
holidays and rolled them all into one day.Many churches ring their bells on the eve of this day, and
people will often eat a type of bread called varme hveder.Some people used to walk the ramparts
of the city, but nowadays most people walk along the waterfront areas. This is
also a common day for churches to hold confirmations.

Labour Day (May 1):Not everyone gets this day off; only the blue collar workers
get to enjoy a free day.A lot of
people attend labor meetings to discuss the labor issued at hand. Labor unions
will join other labor unions in marches celebrating major labor reforms in the
past.

Ascension Day (varies, 39 days after Easter):This holiday takes place 39 days after
Easter and commemorates the Christian belief that this is the day which Jesus
Christ ascended into heaven after rising from the dead.Traditionally, this is also the day in
which the Easter candle (also known as the Paschal candle) is extinguished.

Constitution Day (June 5):This holiday goes back to 1849 and the
signing of the Danish constitution establishing the country as a constitutional
monarchy.Some political meetings
and functions may be held on this day, but generally, it’s not a huge
holiday.It also happens to be the
same day as Father’s Day.

Pentecost (varies, 7 weeks after Easter):Pentecost is thought of as the foundation
of the Church.Because of the
proverbial correlation between Jesus and the sun, many people stay up all night
to wait for the sun to rise.In
some of the rural areas, it was a common time to whitewash all the buildings.In recent times, large Whitsun
procession through the streets of Copenhagen.

Whit Monday (varies, day after Pentecost): Often
considered the second day of Pentecost, it got its name from wearing white
baptismal fonts on this day.It’s
a common time for people to be baptized.

Christmas (December 24-26): The use of candles at
Christmas goes back to pagan days and the early days after Christianization. In
fact, they utilized and merged many pagan traditions in with Christian
traditions.And from the
beginning, this has always been a holiday that is centered around family.They do put up Christmas trees (a
tradition borrowed from nearby Germany) and decorate their homes with paper
decorations and make sweets for the entire month of December.However, Danes have become friends with
the Christmas “nisse,” a mythical old man who wears a grey sweater, grey pants, red stockings, and a red cap who will hand out good fortune in exchange for porridge.(Hmm, I have some grits in my cabinet.
Wonder if that works? And he sort of seems like an old professor I had in
college.) Several other traditions, like mistletoe and Santa Claus, were
introduced from other countries.Of
course gifts are exchanged, and there are many other smaller traditions like
paper Christmas hearts, singing Christmas carols, the Christmas lunch featuring
herring, and a lot of sweet and succulent and savory foods.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

It’s the land that brought us both Vikings and
Legos. My mom and I have discussed this at length and decided this conversation
had to have taken place (in fact, this is the actual transcript): “[Viking
spokesman:] I know most people think the Vikings are somewhat defunct – what
little they know, right? – but I have this idea. Why rape and pillage anymore?
That was so 10th century.We’ll change our tactics: we’ll attack from inside homes. We’ve created
this incredibly heinous weapon called the Lego. It looks just like a child’s
toy – parents will be scrambling to buy as many of these possible, making us a
lot of money. Kids will drop these all over the floor in their slobovian ways,
and the adults will step on them and practically die in minutes. Kids are
immune to the diabolical powers Legos hold. It’s practically perfect in our
Danish mastery of taking over the world, one brick at a time.” Ok, maybe it
might not be EXACTLY that way, but it sure seemed plausible to me.

Denmark lies on a peninsula just north of Germany
in the North Sea and includes 407 islands (of which only 70 are inhabitable).
Denmark also lays claim to the island of Greenland (off the coast of Canada)
and the Faroe Islands, which are located between Scotland and Iceland.Although it’s not exactly clear, the
word Denmark is thought to be derived from the word “Dani” which refers to a
group of people who were indigenous to the area, and the word “mark” which may
refer to woodland or a border land. Denmark is also one of the handful of
countries that border only one country.Technically, it shares a land border with just Germany, but it is also connected
by Sweden by bridge.

As far as its early history goes, the people are
ethnically related to the Germanic peoples from the south and Scandinavians to
the north, and were invaded (and ethnically cleansed) by the Anglo-Saxons.
Between the 8th and 10th centuries, some Danes (as well
as some Swedes and Norwegians) were known as Vikings, who were ruthless,
invading, pillaging, and generally taking over wherever they wanted.They’re often depicted wearing helmets
with horns coming from the sides in large boats with highly ornamented
figurehead on the bow. (Just watch "How to Train Your Dragon.") Although they weren’t Danish, two of the most famous
Vikings were Eric the Red and his son Leif Ericksson. The Vikings were great explorers,
credited with discovering Iceland and the eastern shores of Canada (especially
Newfoundland). One of the early kings of Denmark and Norway is Harald
Bluetooth. In fact, the Bluetooth icon is actually an overlay of the Nordic
runes for the letters H and B (his initials).Too bad I can never get a bluetooth connection to actually
connect. It’s more like blurtooth.It’s rumored that it was Harald Bluetooth who officially wrote the name
“Denmark” on jelling stones, which are giant stones near the city of Jelling
that have rune writing on them.In
following the footsteps of the Dutch East India Company, the Danes laid its own
claims to regions in India as well (specifically the region of Tranquebar) and
the islands known as the US Virgin Islands, known then as the Danish West
Indies.During WWII, Denmark
signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, which they invaded Denmark
anyway.Nowadays, Denmark
generally does peacekeeping missions in various countries.

The capital city is Copenhagen, a city of about 1.9
million (about my size of city).The name Copenhagen means “chapman’s haven” or “merchant’s
harbour.”It’s located mostly on
the eastern shore of the island of Zealand and partly on the island of Amager.
It’s also right across the sound from the Swedish cities of Malmö and
Landskrona.I’ve always imagined
that it was super cold there, but because the island is situated where it is,
it doesn’t normally get below 10º F in the winter and average temps in the
summer are between 60-70ºF. I’d say this is one more reason why I should move
here. It’s a world-class city with museums, universities, nightlife, sports
teams, and of course, beer. Copenhagen is also home to one of the world’s best
restaurants, Noma, ranked number one for three years in a row by Restaurant magazine.

Denmark enjoys a fairly strong economy.They have the lowest level of income inequality
in the world and the highest minimum wage in the world as well (I read it’s
roughly around $19/hr). And they’re really into green/clean energy and energy
efficiency.Denmark has utilized
wind energy for a long time and is working on integrating this wind energy with
the national grid. Right now, they’re also working on creating and integrating
the electric plug-in car technology.They also huge on being a “cycling society” – getting rid of so many
cars on the roads daily and modifying their infrastructure to create bike
lanes.

The vast majority of the people speak Danish, which
is related to Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, and German.Because the people of the Faroe Islands
also speak Faroese and the people of Greenland also speak Greenlandic, these
are also official languages as well.There are quite a few German speakers near the German border, which
makes German one of the more popular foreign languages to learn, along with
English.

The vast majority – almost 80% of the population –
are Lutheran.Of course,
Lutheranism is the established religion of Denmark.There is a very small Muslim population, and recently there
is a “new” religion called Forn Sithrwhich
is basically centered around pre-Christian Norse paganism.

In some ways, Denmark has long been a progressive
country and is a country of many firsts and number-ones.It was the first country to legalize
pornography in 1969 as well as establish gender-neutral marriages twenty years
later.They also excel in the sciences,
giving the world the famous physicist Neils Bohr and philosopher Søren
Kierkegaard.Adopted in 1219, the
Danish flag is the oldest flag in the world that is still used by an
independent country.There have
been several studies which rank Denmark as one of the happiest countries in the
world. The Danish royal family can trace its uninterrupted line all the way
back to 934AD – the oldest royal family line in Europe.The architect for the famous Sydney
Opera House in Australia was designed by a Danish guy (Jørn Utzen), which was
recognized as a World Heritage Site, and he was only the second recipient who
was still living at the time of the induction. The longest suspension bridge in
Europe (called the Great Belt Fixed Link) links the Danish islands of Zealand
and Funen, making it also the third-longest in the world. And Denmark has the oldest and second-oldest amusement parks in the world -- the Dyrehavsbakken opened in 1583 and Tivoli Gardens opened in 1843. I’m very excited to cook food from
Denmark, listen to my Spotify playlists for Denmark, and discover other really
cool things about this country.In
fact, I’m going to go make my sourdough starter for my rugbrød right now.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

So, we
finally made it to my cooking day.It was a long week, but I survived it, and I’m definitely hungry for
some good food. I thought it was moderately funny in an allegorical sort of
sense that when I told people I was cooking food from the Democratic Republic
of the Congo, people sort of made a face like I was just invited to my own
funeral. However, when I described what I was making, all of a sudden, they
thought it sounded pretty good.Maybe that’s what I’m here for, maybe this is the point of this blog:
dispelling culinary stereotypes.

Gooey, vanilla-y fried goodness. There is definitely room for tweaking the recipe.

I started
out with my “bread” – a type of vanilla-flavored doughnut hole, more or less. I
found this recipe from a blog of a woman who visited the DRC and was introduced
to what was called makité.She was
given the recipe, but she had a lot of trouble recreating it. It just never
turned out the way she had it when she was there. Sometimes I think your
environment has a lot to do with whether bread and bread products turn out: the
humidity in the air, temperature, quality of ingredients, etc. I’m sure my
store-bought commercially packaged products and Indiana-in-November weather is
the prime environment to recreate a recipe from tropical Africa. But I’m
hell-bent on trying it as well. I mixed half whole wheat white flour and half
cassava flour (also called tapioca or yuca flour – I still had some from making
Costa Rican yuca bread) and yeast.Then I added in the sugar, salt, and I added a half-package of French
vanilla pudding powder. I have a feeling I used too much pudding, and I
accidentally picked French vanilla instead of regular vanilla. But we’ll see
how this turns out, and because of this, I left out the vanilla extract. Then I
added enough warm water to bring it to the consistency of a “thick pancake
batter,” then I covered it and let it sit for two hours. It was still too runny
to form into balls; I kept adding a bit of flour on top of it, patting it with
the back of the spoon and then stirring.I had to do that several times – like I was kneading bread dough. I did
manage to thicken it up a bit, enough to form a ball.However, I think my oil was too high and I used too much
pudding mix.If the outsides
burned, the insides were done. If it looks perfect on the outside, the insides
were still a little runny, like pudding. So, I don’t know. It tasted good
though. Like vanilla pudding balls. Maybe I should try coffee creamer next
time?

Who doesn't love sweet potatoes this time of year? Especially marinated in brandy and beer battered.

The next thing
I did was the side dish: Sweet Potatoes Congolese.First I put the sweet potatoes in boiling water for about
five minutes (which is called blanching). I took them out, peeled them, and
sliced them. Then I made a marinade of honey, brandy, and some lemon zest, and
let it marinate for about 30-40 minutes (the recipe calls for 60 minutes).
Afterwards, I made a batter of flour and light beer (I chose one of my favorite
Belgian beers, Stella Artois). I tried to save time and mess by dumping the
batter over the potatoes in the bowl (draining the marinade first of course)
and then frying them. Some were fried way more than others, and some probably
needed to be left in a bit longer (the trials and tribulations of a multitasker),
but otherwise I thought they were pretty good.

The best part of the meal. And for my first time using sorrel, I really liked it.

The main
entrée is called Mboto à l’oseille, or fish with sorrel. I went with tilapia
since I know my family likes it – it doesn’t have quite so much a “fishy” taste
to it. I fried the fish on both sides and then took it out and set it aside. It
doesn’t normally take that long to cook fish anyway.Then in the same skillet, I fried the onion and garlic and
added the chili pepper (I’m actually using a jalapeño), diced tomatoes and some
tomato paste with a little water to smooth the sauce out. After this started to
boil, I put the fish back in and added in the sorrel leaves. I actually thought
sorrel was a leafy green, like kale or chard or something, but it’s more of an
herb.But to be fair, it is a leaf
similar to basil.So, I wasn’t
completely out there.I also added
in a bay leaf and a little salt and pepper and nutmeg, allowing everything to
simmer for about 15 minutes or so.This was absolutely wonderful. I served this on a bed of couscous
instead of rice, because I sort of forgot about the rice until the end, and it
only takes 5 minutes to make some instant couscous.I loved this so much.Too bad it’s sort of socially unacceptable to heat up fish in the office
lunchroom, but I may do it anyway.If I have to deal with people constantly burning popcorn, then they can
deal with my Congolese fish.

Perfect meal for a cool day, perfect as a comfort food.

I learned
so much about this country.In
fact, it made the news just in the past couple of days, although you probably
wouldn’t know about it in mainstream American news. (I saw it on a Wikipedia
News blurb and got the details on BBC.) The M23 rebel forces finally
“surrendered,” giving a relief to the Congolese Army and the Congolese people,
especially in the Kiva region.Hopefully, they can renegotiate peace deals, and the people can enjoy
some relative peace for a while as they try to rebuild their communities.Even if the civil war ended with this
move, families have been shattered and any semblance of normal lives will take
a long time to bring back. It’s a complicated and complex situation essentially
going back a couple hundred years.But it’s not impossible to implement changes. Perhaps in my lifetime,
perhaps in my children’s, it’ll happen one day.I’m sure of it.

Friday, November 8, 2013

The
Congolese refer to their music simply as ndule,
the Lingala word for music. In fact, most of their own music is sung in Lingala
with some French mixed in as well. After WWII, music in the DRC became more or
less a fusion of African folk music mixed with Latin music, especially rumba
coming out of Cuba. They adapted their music to include Latin instrumentation
and styles.The Belgians actually
helped by bringing in electric guitars and equipment necessary to start
recording music. The first recording studios were in Kinshasa.Besides Cuban rumba, Congolese
musicians were also influenced by American swing music and jazz, cabaret music
from France, and a style known as highlife coming out of Ghana.This new blend of Congolese became
known as soukous and is highly influential in other areas around central
Africa.

African
jazz was super popular during the middle part of the 20th century,
and many jazz bands popped up all over the country, especially in the large
cities. There were a lot of musicians who jumped back and forth between
Kinshasa and Brazzaville.

Soukous
more or less became the base for almost all of the other styles of music in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. And then there were offshoots: rumba-rock, n’dombolo, etc.
One band named Zaiko Langa Langa emerged and changed the genre to include a
more smoother, pop-like sound, which many other bands and music groups followed
as well. The term soukous has now become more of a catch-all term for all
Congolese music.

And
essentially, all Congolese music is dance music. Dance is so integrated with
music that it’s hard to separate the two. Dance styles are generally named after
the music it’s danced to. Different ethnic groups had their own dances and
musical styles used to tell stories and act as part of special ceremonies. The clip above is a great piece I found about Congolese dance today, combining tradition dance styles and ballet, telling the most pressing stories of women and other important issues at hand.

Two super
huge musicians that shaped Congolese music as we know it are definitely in my
Spotify playlist. The first one is Joseph “Grand Kalle” Kabasele. I can
definitely tell the Cuban influence on his music, but there’s also definitely
an African quality to the guitar riffs.There are times that I’ve wondered if I accidently switched over to my
Cuban playlist instead. I love this music. I have the album Le Grande Kallé: His Life, His Music in
my playlist.

Another
musician I found is Papa Wemba.When I pulled up the photo of movie cover to La Vie est Belle, the DRC’s first major film produced (I mentioned
it in my last post), it listed Papa Wemba on the cover – he did much of the
music on the soundtrack.I really
like his music as well, and again, I can sense some of the Latin flavor in his
music in regards to instrumentation and rhythms.I liked the album Best
of Papa Wemba: Cantos Essentials.

Another
album in my playlist is Zaiko Langa Langa’s Tout
Choc. It’s upbeat, and really, who doesn’t love a little cowbell?It almost makes me think of outdoor
cabanas, eating some kind of spicy, charred meat with a side of some fried
plantains, drinking cold beer, taking in the warm breezes, and listening to
this music for hours.

Followers

About Me

I'm really nerdy. I have several writing projects going on, and I also have a really long list of books I'm working my way through; I'm still adding books to it, so in essence, I'll never get through it. I'm an amateur food and culture blogger, an amateur baker and cook, an amateur musicologist, an amateur grammarian, an amateur know-it-all, and a professional dreamer. Follow me on Twitter: @KayoSmada.